


Promises to keep (Miles to go before I sleep)

by SilverBlaze85



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Afterlife, Aftermath, Gen, Hallucinations, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 11:28:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverBlaze85/pseuds/SilverBlaze85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Rest now, Ranger. Your work is done.” </i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Raleigh's oxygen levels were critical before Gipsy fell into the Breach, to say nothing of the descent into the Anteverse, or the escape out. Mako wasn't wrong when she said he wasn't breathing, despite the fact he gasped back to life moments later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises to keep (Miles to go before I sleep)

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, story is just a fill for the bingo square Rangers before it got away from me. I don't know if it'd count still. XD

“Rest now, Ranger. Your work is done.” 

Raleigh frowns, turning around as the mist churns and twists. He has to get back to Mako, make sure she’s okay, and this is no place he knows. Except… he does. As he turns, he sees the speaker, a slender middle-aged woman with raven-black hair that spills to her waist, the strands never catching on the ornate gown she’s wearing, and eyes that look disturbingly familiar. She doesn’t speak again, just watching him with those eyes, until it vaguely clicks. “I know you.” 

“We’ve met before, Ranger. And now your work is done. It’s time to rest.” 

The words tease and tickle at his mind, and it finally tugs loose a memory, and he remembers her. Remembers the horror and pain of the aftermath of the Knifehead fight, remembers passing out in crimson-streaked snow and waking to the mist, to a younger-version of the woman ahead of him. Remembers waking to the words “Rest now, Ranger,” but not being told his work was done. 

He backs away, shaking his head as he distances themselves. “No, I can’t, not yet. I still have things to do, I have to check on Mako, I need to-”  


“You need to rest, Ranger,” she interrupts. Her eyes are sympathetic, but firm. “Your work is done. Mako is alright, the choppers are coming to collect her. And you did what you were sent to do. The breach is closed. You’ve forgiven yourself, and forgiven those that you needed to. Your work is done.” 

The panic is a living thing crawling in his throat, and he shakes his head in futile denial. “No, it’s not. You let me go back last time.” 

She inclines her head, her hair sliding over her shoulder with a whisper, and he shudders as his brain swears he hears crows cawing. “Yes, because your purpose wasn’t fulfilled yet. You still had work left, work which you’ve finished.” She watches him for a moment, before sighing. “Please, do not fight this. You need to rest.” 

_“Don’t go.”_

The word is soft, whimpered and broken, and his heart breaks a little. “I can’t go, you don’t understand. I have to protect Mako, I have to make sure she’s okay. I know what it’s like, I can’t let her go through losing a co-pilot. I won’t.” 

“She was asleep when you died. She felt nothing. And she is young, strong. She will be alright for a time.” 

_“Don’t go. Please.”_

“ ‘For a time’ isn’t good enough!” He’s furious, a bit desperate to get back to where he can vaguely feel Mako squeezing him. “She _needs_ me. I won’t let her go through this alone! Who the hell are you, anyway?” 

She smiles, and it sends chills down his spine. “I’m the Reaper assigned to the Jaeger Rangers.” 

“Assigned?” A weird, foggy feeling envelopes him, and he tries to shake it off as she inclines her head. 

“Indeed. Your war upon the Kaiju reaped enough lives in the early days, it became apparent that a Reaper was needed for the Rangers themselves. You are fighting an honorable death. We do our best to ensure that no Ranger dies truly alone, in those last moments.” 

_“Don’t go.”_

“Please. Let me go back. _Please_. I can’t leave her, not like this. Not after everyone we’ve lost already.” 

Her eyes go distant for a moment, and he holds his breath, chest aching, and how weird is that? Before he can ponder it for long, she nods. “For your service, we will grant you two wishes. One now, and one later.” 

“I want to go back.” 

“Very well.” She steps closer, and he can feel phantom wings envelope him. “Your body has ceased for too long, so we’ll have to step back in time a few minutes. Some find it disturbing.” Before he can draw a breath, he feels like the Drift, only inside out, and is hearing his own voice asking “Assigned?” 

“Take a breath, Ranger.” He does; well, he tries, and Mako’s arms are compressing his ribs, and her tears are hot against his neck, and it’s all he can do to gasp out something that makes her loosen her grip. 

As Mako curls against his chest, and the rescue choppers soar overhead, he closes his eyes and sends up a heartfelt “Thank you”.


End file.
